Monday, April 30, 2012

The biggest patch of very colorful wildflowers that I have seen this year on the Tandy Hills is on the top of Mount Tandy, to the east of the Fort Worth Space Needle.

Getting technical about it, with getting technical not one of my few fortes, I don't know for sure if the area east of the Fort Worth Space Needle is considered one of the Tandy Hills. It may be part of the Broadcast Hills.

I am almost 100% that the area to the east of the Fort Worth Space Needle is not part of the Tandy Hills Natural Area.

The Tandy Hills hill hiking was humid today. Very humid. A steady breeze brought some relief from the muggy humidity.

Changing the subject from the Tandy Hills, and humidity, to turkey legs.

I got around to picking up the current ink edition of dfw.com on my way back from the Tandy Hills.

On the cover is a giant turkey leg.

The one person who reads my blog may remember that last month when I was in Arizona we spent a lot of time hunting for illusive turkey legs. When we found enough turkey legs my dad smoked them in a smoker.

Looking skyward on this last day of April it appears less stormy than yesterday morning. However, today storminess is in the forecast, with possible rain and lightning strikes.

I hope I can get in some salubrious endorphin inducing aerobic stimulation by doing some hill hiking before any precipitation precipitates.

It is 39 degrees above freezing, already, on this Monday morning.

I've got my windows open, but am not getting a satisfying incoming cooling. The ceiling fan is spinning and that is not providing a satisfying cooling either.

Something in the air is annoying my eyes, again. A burning sensation.

Among the many things I liked about being in the desert in Arizona, last month, was nothing irritated my eyes. And I did not need any sort of spray intervention to keep my respiratory system functioning correctly.

It is now that time in the morning when I quit whining in blogging mode and go swimming where I whine quietly to myself.

Sunday, April 29, 2012

On my way to Arlington's International District, today, I stopped at Arlington's Veterans Park to visit the veteran who guards the Veterans Park Memorial.

As you can clearly see, this morning it was cloudy and windy in Arlington.

What you can not see is that both of the park's parking lots were almost full. There was not one large singular activity that accounted for the almost full parking lots, but a lot of individual activity of individuals and small groups of individuals.

After visiting Veterans Park I visited 3 stores in Arlington's International District. That being 2 stores that are Asian themed and one, Import Market, that is more Middle Eastern/Russian themed.

I got a jar of Ginger Paste at the Import Market. I have no idea what this is used for, but it was on sale for $3.99 and the description on the jar made it sound as if there are all sorts of uses for it. I also got Whole Wheat Pita Bread. I'd not seen Whole Wheat Pita Bread before.

I looked all over the Import Market for Hummus. I found cans of chickpeas, but no Hummus.

The customers in the Import Market appeared to be more multi-cultural than the Asian themed stores I went in, where I tend to be the only Anglo in the store.

I did see one other Anglo in one of the Asian stores. She was stunningly beautiful, exotically so.

Many of the Asians in the Asian stores are dressed very stylishly. The Asian stores are run very efficiently. The Middle Eastern/Russian store has some quirks in how it operates, with the quirks being part of what is interesting. For instance, many items have no indicator of the price. So, I bought the Whole Wheat Pita Bread not knowing what it cost til I saw it scan at $1.49.

If you live in the Arlington zone and have not shopped in Arlington's International District, you really should check it out.

I wonder why no one opens a Uwajimaya type complex in the D/FW zone? Uwajimaya is in Seattle's International District. Uwajimayais an Asian store on steroids, with one of the best food courts I've ever had the pleasure of being pleased in.

Looking out my primary viewing portal on the outer world, on the last Sunday of April, gray seems to be the color scheme this morning.

Eventually today is supposedly going to be partly cloudy. Currently the sky is totally cloudy.

I've got my windows open so the steady breeze can blow in naturally air-conditioned air that has been chilled to 68 degrees.

Eventually the sky furnace will turn on and the windows will need to be closed. But, with the scheduled high today being only 83, maybe I'll be able to avoid turning on the un-natural air-conditioning.

Changing the subject from my favorite one to one of my personal problems.

I had a sleep walking incident last night. That makes two nights in a row. The previous night I walked in my sleep and opened the patio door. And left it open. Last night I woke up and could not find my pillow. I looked all around the bed. Then got out of bed. The pillow was nowhere to be found in my bedroom. Or the closet. Or the bathroom.

So, I exited my bedroom, looked in the kitchen, and then the living room, to find the pillow on a coffee table.

I find these sleep walking incidents to be very disturbing due to the fact that I have no idea what else I may be doing whilst sleep walking.

It is time to go swimming now. Later this morning I think I will go to Arlington's International District.

Saturday, April 28, 2012

No, what you are looking at in the picture is not some location on the Tandy Hills. I did not go to the Tandy Hills tonight, did not go to Prairie Fest x3 Part 2.

Instead of joining the throngs on the Tandy Hills I joined the throngs at River Legacy Park and had myself a real fine time going on a real long bike ride.

The orange cones that had been blocking entry from the River Legacy trail to the new paved trail that trails off into the Veridian Project had been set aside.

So, I pedaled that new Veridian trail until it terminated.

The End Of The Veridian Trail

The new Veridian trail is very narrow. I don't quite see how it is intended to be used. A pedestrian trail connection to the River Legacy trail? With bikes banned?

I have to say it was fun biking on this trail, going real fast.

The parking lot where I usually park at River Legacy Park was full tonight. The park was way busier than my mid-week visits. But the traffic on the trails was not quite as frenetic.

I was quite impressed with the number of over inflated people out getting themselves some exercise tonight. There was one really big pair at the end of the trail, the 7 mile mark. They did not appear to move too fast. I hope they made it back to their vehicular transport before it got too dark.

That is an artist's rendering of what Fort Worth's Phyllis J. Tilley Memorial Pedestrian Bridge will look like upon completion in about a month.

I got the artist's rendering from the Freese and Nichols website. Freese and Nichols are the Fort Worth based constructors of this architectural wonder.

Quoting from the Freese and Nichols website...

The 386-foot-long Phyllis J. Tilley Memorial Bridge across the Trinity River will be an important and highly visible pedestrian bridge connection between downtown Fort Worth and the City’s Cultural District. With the bridge’s prominent location at historic Trinity Park, the aesthetic design is of paramount importance. After evaluating multiple concepts, an elegant “stress ribbon” design was selected by a design committee. This arch-supported stress ribbon bridge will be the first of its kind in the United States. The bridge was designed in collaboration with noted bridge designers Rosales + Partners and Schlaich Bergermann und Partner.

The cost of this architectural marvel is only $3 million.

America is flush with cash, while Fort Worth is not flush with cash, so you in the rest of America contributed $2.3 million of the $3 million for this direly needed bridge that will help connect Fort Worth's downtown to its isolated Cultural District.

Looking West At The $3 Million Bridge Under Construction

If you visit Fort Worth and want to walk across the bridge you helped pay for, I think you will likely be able to do so without paying Fort Worth any more money.

However.

Having said that, I must warn you that Fort Worth has a bad habit of charging admission fees for things that most towns consider to be life enhancing amenities to be used, free of additional charge, by everyone.

Looking at these photos one can clearly see how this little bridge could easily cost $3 million.

If I remember right the new Tacoma Narrows Suspension Bridge cost around $1 billion. That is 333 times more expensive than this new bridge in Fort Worth.

Just guessing, but I suspect Tacoma's new bridge is way more than 333 times bigger than the new Fort Worth bridge. If I remember right the Tacoma bridge carries 6 lanes of traffic. Plus pedestrians.

I don't know if the new Tacoma Narrows Suspension Bridge got any federal grant money to help with the funding. If I remember right it was something like 7 or 8 counties voted in the proposition that led to the construction of the new Tacoma bridge.

One Month Til The Grand Opening

In Fort Worth we don't believe in the public voting on things like public works projects.

I have not yet learned how it was that the Phyllis Tilley Memorial Pedestrian Bridge came to be constructed.

However, I do know for certain it was not the result of a public vote.

CatsPaw took these photos yesterday. It appears that there is a lot of constructing still needing to take place if this bridge is going to look anything remotely like that artist's rendering at the top, by the time of its Grand Opening in May.

Before we are led on our tour we get personal instructions on how to operate the X2 Segways.

I have been all over the Fort Worth Botanic Garden. I may be wrong, but I don't think there are all that many areas where something like a Segway would be allowed, just like how a mountain bike or golf cart would not be allowed.

And then there are the elevation changes. Do Segway's easily navigate elevation changes?

The information that comes with the Groupon says that riders must be able to make motions such as climbing and descending stairs without assistance.

Climb and descend stairs? What does one do with ones Segway whilst climbing and descending stairs?

Also the Groupon ad says riders must weigh between 100 and 275 pounds. I guess I need to lose some weight before I get on a Segway.

It will be interesting to see how this Segway ride through the Botanic Garden works.

Friday, April 27, 2012

It has been a few days since I've walked around Fosdic Lake in Oakland Lake Park in East Fort Worth.

Something appears to have gone dire wrong since the last time I had a close up look at Fosdic Lake.

Every year, during the HOT heat of summer, when the temperature goes over 100 day after day, Fosdic Lake can take on a greenish hue, due to algae flourishing in the warm water.

It is currently a bit less than 2 months until summer. The temperature has gotten into the high 80s and low 90s a couple times this year. Currently it is 89.

Yet, for some reason Fosdic Lake has a huge mass of green vegetative matter floating over much of the lake.

I only saw about 10 ducks today and five of them were the babies you see in the picture.

Where have all the Fosdic ducks gone? And the other Fosdic birds? Are the Fosdic birds being like a parakeet in a mine? Do they know that Fosdic Lake has turned foul and have escaped to cleaner waters?

None of the Fosdic ducks I saw today were in the water. Maybe they do not like floating in a high wind. As it was being very windy today in the noon time frame. Or maybe ducks don't like floating with little islands of algae.

Green Algae Vegetation Blown Up Against Fosdic Dam

Usually the Fosdic ducks are very skittish. Usually when the ducks are land bound they quickly get lake bound when I get close to them. Today none of the ducks seemed to care that I was close to them. It was like I was the least of their worries, with a new worry taking top precedence, that being their home that was growing green.

And where were the Fosdic turtles? The turtles love it when the temperature is as hot as it is today. Usually I'd see dozens of Fosdic turtles, swimming in the water, sunning on logs. Today no turtles.

What is Fosdic Lake going to be like when the heat of summer arrives? Will it become totally choked with algae?

Looking skyward through the bars of my patio prison cell on the final Friday of April, day 27, there appears to be some cloud action.

But, no rain is in the current forecast, for today.

However, on the last day of April, Monday, April Showers are in the forecast.

It was windy all night, again, which had me hearing wind chimes tinkling. I do not like wind chimes.

A couple days ago a couple people emailed me asking if it was I who was found dead beside his bike beside the Trinity River. This seemed odd to me, like those people who call to see if I got struck by the tornado they'd just seen on CNN twisting somewhere in Texas.

I'd not bothered to click on the link to the story about the dead biker that those asking if I'd died, politely included in their query, til last night.

I was surprised to learn that the dead biker was found in River Legacy Park. On Tuesday. I biked in River Legacy Park on Monday and Wednesday oblivious to the fact that someone had met his tragic end there.

On a happier note, I was happy this morning to read in my favorite newspaper, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, that Trader Joe's is opening in Fort Worth on June 15. I have only been to one Trader Joe's, somewhere between Sea-Tac and Tacoma. I liked Trader Joe's a lot. I suspect it will be very busy, like In-N-Out, when it opens.

It is currently 68 degrees. I think I will go swimming now before it gets any hotter.

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Lately, due to my aversion to feeling like I need a machete to hack my way through a trail, I've avoided the Tandy Rain Forest Jungle that one goes through when one crosses north across the Tandy Escarpment above Tandy Falls.

But, today when I left the air-conditioned comfort of my abode to head into the outer world for some endorphin inducing aerobic stimulation, I decided to brave my way through the lush vegetation of the Tandy Jungle, sans machete.

The machete-free Jungle passage was not as difficult as I had feared.

It was only in the 80s when I did my hill hiking today. But the humidity had the Real Feel feeling HOTTER. By the time I got back to the air-conditioned comfort of my vehicle I was about as wet as if I'd just stepped out of a shower.

Being about as wet as if I'd just stepped out of a shower, combined with air-conditioning blowing cold set off an interesting bout of sneezing.

On my way back to where I am now I stopped at Albertson's to pick up this week's FW Weekly. When I left Albertson's the sad/sick looking homeless guy I've mentioned previously, who lives in a shanty of cardboard near the now defunct Krogers, was walking towards me. Suddenly the sad/sick guy started hacking with a terrible sounding cough.

I see this guy several times a month. He looks progressively worse. Why is there not a number that you can call when you see someone in dire need of help? Or is there such a number? I know 911 is useless for such things.

The bright sun wreaked havoc, last night, with my attempts to take a good picture of the pedestrian bridge in Arlington's River Legacy Park that takes walkers, bikers and bladers across the Trinity River.

But, even my limited photo taking ability shows you that this is a fairly substantial looking bridge. A very heavily used substantial looking bridge.

I do not know how much it cost to build this particular bridge. I suspect it was less than $3 million.

Yesterday I was surprised to learn that Fort Worth has a pedestrian bridge under construction, somewhere near Trinity Park, connecting the Trinity Trail to downtown Fort Worth.

Fort Worth's pedestrian bridge across the Trinity River will cost around $3 million. Of that $3 million, $2.3 million comes from federal grants, with the City of Fort Worth adding $459,000 and Streams & Valleys adding $200,000 raised from private donors.

I am a little perplexed about the building of a $3 million pedestrian bridge at this location at this particular time. When and where was this expenditure debated and voted upon?

How many miles of sidewalk could be installed in Fort Worth for $3 million? It seems like sidewalks would be a higher priority than a pedestrian bridge in the biggest city in America with the most miles of roads without sidewalks.

How many of Fort Worth's shuttered public pools could be opened for $3 million?

How many more hours could the Fort Worth Public Library system be open with an influx of $3 million?

A few years back Fort Worth decided to limit access to one of its city parks, that being the Fort Worth Nature Center & Refuge, by charging an admission fee. I don't know of any other city, with World Class pretensions, that charges an entry fee to one of its city parks. Particularly to a park of this nature.

A month ago I was in several city parks in the Phoenix zone. Enormous city parks that dwarf anything in Fort Worth, both in size and the number of people using them. None charged an entry fee.

How does this new pedestrian bridge in Fort Worth fit in with the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle? It is downriver from the Woodshed Smokehouse, which somehow became part of J.D. Granger's Vision for the Boondoggle, even though the Woodshed seemed to be too far upriver to be part of the area that the vision originally saw.

What the City of Fort Worth decides to spend money on, and not spend money on, is very perplexing. And how those spending decisions are made is also very perplexing.

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

I was back to Arlington to River Legacy Park tonight to bike to the 7 miles marker at the far east side of the park.

My secondary motive (primary motive is to try and get in shape) for biking along the Trinity River tonight was to take a picture of the bridge built a few years ago across the Trinity River, connecting the park to both sides of the river and extending the paved trail for several new miles.

I wanted to use a picture of the River Legacy bridge in a blogging where I am intending to opine about a new pedestrian bridge in Fort Worth across the Trinity. But, that blogging will need to wait until tomorrow.

This gives us all something to look forward to.

Back to tonight's bike ride. Once again I was surprised and impressed at the number of Texans out biking, walking, blading and playing.

One change I am sort of ambivalent about.

I don't remember biker packs in years previous biking the River Legacy trails. Tonight I encountered 4 different packs of bikers, pedaling fast, all close together, single file. The biggest group passed me, or met me, 3 times.

I have never understood the attraction of biking in a pack. It'd make me nervous. Each of the packs was very courteous, announcing their high speed passing.

I'm really liking my new bike. Every time I've had a new bike previous there have always been issues requiring a return to the bike shop. So far, no issues.

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

The Unstoppable Woman called this morning which led me to having way too much fun with website issues.

The Unstoppable Woman, to which I refer, is not Elsie Hotpepper.

Now that you've got me thinking about the Unstoppable Elsie Hotpepper, I realize I've not heard from her today. I was too consumed with the other Unstoppable Woman to realize Elsie Hotpepper has gone missing again.

I needed a break from the Unstoppable Woman issues so I took myself to the top of Mount Tandy and had a real fine time walking up and down 8 hills. I figure if I keep doing this type behavior eventually I will get in shape.

I was pleased to see, today, that the keeper of the Bambo Tandy Teepee has re-erected the fallen Teepee.

The mystery of the pile of bamboo, deep inside the Tandy Hills, and the erection of the Bamboo Tandy Teepee has never been solved.

It is a little warm today at 82 degrees. According to my temperature source the humidity has the real feel of the temperature being 87 degrees. 87 degrees is bordering on HOT.

I need to make a phone call about the Unstoppable Woman. I guess I will quit procrastinating and do that now.

Monday, April 23, 2012

No, that is not the boarded up boardwalk in Fort Worth's Gateway Park you are looking at in the picture.

It is the un-boarded up boardwalk in Arlington's extremely well maintained River Legacy Park.

That blue body of water you see surrounded by lush, green vegetation is the Trinity River.

Somehow, after leaving Fort Worth, the Trinity River is scrubbed of its greenish/brown murky color and cleaned to a glistening blue.

I don't think J.D. Granger's Magic Trees are yet in place to account for the river cleaning.

A couple weeks ago I biked the trails of River Legacy and opined my surprise at the number of people having fun in various ways on the trails, mid-day. I wondered, at that time, how big the crowd was in the evening, or on a weekend.

Well, tonight I learned the answer.

There are an incredible number of Texans getting off their collective big rears and having themselves a real fine time enjoying the perfect weather and Arlington's near perfect park.

I like to leap to big conclusions from very little evidence, so I'm going to leap to the big conclusion that many Texans have tired of being among the biggest people in America and are doing something about it.

The Blocked Paved Trail To Veridian

No wonder Dallas, Fort Worth and Arlington have not lately shown up on any list of the Top 20 Fattest Cities in America.

And then there's the Huffine's Veridian project mysteries, due north of River Legacy Park.

Tonight I learned that the trail in the making that leads out of River Legacy Park, to Veridian, has now been paved.

In the earlier blogging about this development Anonymous wondered how access would be controlled at the connection between the public park and the private development.

Well, tonight I think the answer was found. Four orange pillars block access.

What I am curious about is where was the public meeting where the subject of allowing this connection between this private development and this public park was discussed with the public getting to have input?

I had a strong impulse to toss the four orange pillars into the brush and pedal the new trail.

In the picture you are looking north, on top of Lost Sunglasses Ridge, on one of the Tandy Hills, today in the noon time frame.

Last year, at this point in time, the Tandy Hills were showing signs of stress to the vegetation, due to the Great North Texas Drought.

This year, at this point in time, the Tandy Hills are showing signs of a prairie being well provided with a sufficient supply of water.

It is getting to the point that there is some vegetative encroachment at some locations on the trails. I do not like vegetative encroachment. I've been avoiding the rain forest like zone one reaches on the north side of Tandy Falls, due to the claustrophobic tunnel-like effect of all the greenery.

Changing the subject from healthy vegetation to an unhealthy canine encounter.

One is supposed to keep ones dog on a leash whilst hiking the Tandy Hills.

Some people do not keep their dog leashed, due to the fact that their dog is well behaved, like Olive the Prairie Dog.

But some people let their dog off leash, even though they know the dog is not well-behaved.

Today, a semi-elderly gentleman was hiking the Tandy Hills with two dogs. Two un-leashed dogs. One of the dogs rushed at me in attack mode, with the semi-elderly gentleman trying to get the vicious dog to return to his control.

I am always armed with a whacking stick when I am out and about in the wild. As the dog took a lunge at me I gave it a sound whack with my whacking stick and it ceased its vicious attack.

When the dog ran back to the semi-elderly gentleman he put the vicious dog on a leash, and also leashed the non-attacking dog.

I can not imagine how a semi-elderly gentleman can feel okay about hiking in a place like this with a dog whose behavior is bad. What if I'd been a little kid the dog tried to attack?

I hope the whacking I gave the dog was sound enough to discourage it from any future vicious attack attempts.

My eldest nephew, Spencer Jack's dad, then commented to that blogging about In-N-Out, saying that his burger joint, the Fidalgo Drive-In, in Anacortes, was similarly flooded with burger maniacs, due to extremely nice weather and extremely HUGE crowds of tourists in the Skagit Valley due to the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival.

Theo Tiptoeing Through The Skagit Valley Tulips

Yesterday I saw via the Blue and Max blog that my nephews and niece, David, Theo and Ruby had visited the Tulip Festival this past weekend. I don't know if they went to the Fidalgo Drive-In.

Blue and Max took some cute cute pictures of the kids in the tulips, one of which you see here. That is Theo checking out what a tulip smells like.

In the background those big mounds in the distance are something you don't see in Texas. They are called foothills. As in foothills of the Cascade Mountains. The white patches you see high up on the foothills are called snow.

Enough about tulips. I see the temperature has dropped another degree, to 49, since I woke up my temperature monitoring device. I must go swimming before it gets any colder.

Sunday, April 22, 2012

I went to Hurst today with 3 destinations in mind. ALDI Food Market, In-N-Out and Chisholm Park.

I'd not been to Chisholm Park before. It is the biggest park in Hurst. Chisholm Park has a fishing lake, a big aquatic center, covered picnic pavilions, ballfields, paved trails, big parking lots and a lot of people having fun in the park on this very pleasant Sunday in April.

On a sign by the lake I read "A Freshwater Fishing License is Required For Anglers 17 Years Old and Older (unless born before Sept. 1, 1930)."

Apparently if you are older than 82 you don't need a fishing license, if I am parsing those words correctly.

Chisholm Park regularly stocks the lake with fish. Largemouth Bass, Channel Catfish, Rainbow Trout and Sunfish Species. The Rainbow Trout are stocked only in the colder winter months because that particular breed of fish does not like the temperature of Texas lakes in summer.

Plenty Of Places To Toss Your Bones In Chisholm Park

Judging by the dozens of people I saw fishing there must be a lot of fish to be caught to sustain that level of fishing optimism.

I saw something in Chisholm Park I'd never seen before. Each of the picnic pavilions, each with a large BBQ pit, were ringed with 8 angled garbage cans.

I was completely bum puzzled and bamboozled til the engineer, Big Ed, figured out that all the angled garbage cans were likely in that configuration to facilitate the easy tossing of bones during a BBQ eating frenzy.

I saw a group of 3 people working on a big BBQ. It smelled real good.

After smelling the BBQ I was hungry. So, it was off to the newly opened Hurst In-N-Out Burger joint.

Well, no luck at In-N-Out.

In-N-Out was over run with customers. There were In-N-Out traffic directors, splitting the incoming cars, with one line going the dine-in option, the other the drive-thru option. There were dozens of cars in the drive-thru. The In-N-Out traffic directors led incoming dine-in customers to a parking spot.

I got led to my parking spot and proceeded inside. I figure this would be like my recent In-N-Out experience in Tempe where it appeared to be really busy but there was no line due to how efficient In-N-Out is.

Well, the Hurst In-N-Out appeared to be very efficient, but there was a line, a long one, almost out the door. And a lot of people were standing waiting for their order number to be called.

I decided to bail.

I liked Chisholm Park. Since it is so close to ALDI, I'll be back. And I'll try In-N-Out in Hurst, again, when it quits being over run by burger maniacs.

Saturday, April 21, 2012

A few minutes ago I was peacefully minding my business, clacking away on the computer keyboard, when suddenly frantic motion caught the periphery of my vision, with the motion occurring on the ledge outside my primary viewing portal.

A pair of big mini-alligators were engaging in some sort of ritual. Mating maybe? Territorial fight? I have no idea. I am not well-tuned into the lizard mindset.

As soon as they caught my attention the pair of mini-alligators quit what they were doing and went into a sort of frozen posture, trying to not be noticed, I suppose.

This frozen posing made it easy to take some mini-gator photos.

When I left the room and continued to observe from outside the mini-gator's view, the pair resumed their strange gyrating behavior. That lasted less than a minute, with one of the pair disappearing. Leaving behind one mini-alligator who remains perched on my window ledge.

I feel fairly safe from the big mini-lizards. I am fairly certain they can not get through the window screen. Just to be safe, maybe I should shut the window, lest I end up in bed with a cold-blooded lizard. Would not be the first time.

Friday, April 20, 2012

Even though there was some rain that hit the ground in the middle of the night, last night, my plan was to go hiking the hills of Tandy today.

But then around 11 this morning the rain returned, so I nixed the Tandy Hills and went to Sam's Club to walk around Sam's Hibiscus Tropical Garden and push a cart around inside Sam's.

As you can see, via the sky view, we had ourselves a bit of a storm of short duration today.

Now, hours later, blue sky has returned.

I imagine the rain was wreaking havoc with the Fort Worth Main St. Arts Festival til it abated. I don't know if I'm going to go ahead with my plan to go to the Main St. Arts Festival tomorrow.

Changing the subject back to Sam's Club. The last couple times I've been in Sam's I've noticed that the people hawking samples have gotten way pushier. Barely in the door today there were samples of bread doused in olive oil being hawked. Along with dipping sauce.

I barely got past the oily bread when a large woman with big red lips accosted me by handing me a bottle of cleaner. She told me that, unlike other cleaners, this one smelled good because the main ingredient was Eucalyptus oil, not something nasty like bleach. She shoved an open bottle under my nose. It did smell good, but I acted like I'd just been sprayed by a skunk. I told her I like how bleach smells. Then she started a demo showing the cleaner in action while asking if I had kids and pets. She was still talking as I walked away.

By the food area I came upon a guy pushing green olives. He was giving his spiel to a lady in a wheelchair who seem fascinated by the olive tale. I picked up a cup with 2 olives in it and was mortified to pop them in my mouth to discover they'd been spiked with some hot pepper. Habanero maybe.

Next I was accosted by a woman pushing a cart and hawking little pieces of a Clif Bar. The time previous, at Sam's, I was accosted by a woman pushing a cart with a cooler full of some new Coke product she was hawking. The mobile hawking carts is a new wrinkle at Sam's.

There were multiple others aggressively pushing products, but I did not get accosted by any of them. It all reminded me too much of visiting a Mexican border town. But I like visiting Mexican border towns and getting accosted by all the product hawkers.

Blue seems to be the dominant color scheme on this morning of the 3rd Friday of April.

I'm feeling a bit blue this morning. I am very stodgy and don't like change. This morning Google changed its Blogger product. Google seems to change its products way too much. The changes never seem like an improvement to me.

For me, the changes to Google AdSense made AdSense a total mess.

In addition to Google annoying me, Mother Nature had a big fit in the middle of the night, tossing rain to the ground, along with some lightning bolts. The booming did not last too long.

This morning I read that something called Travel+Leisure ranked 10 American towns according to their Hipster friendliness.

I am not sure I know what a Hipster is. Modern era Hippie? I don't know.

I clicked through the Top Ten Hipster City List expecting to find Fort Worth near the top.

But, the only Texas town on the Hipster List is Austin at #7.

7. Austin: "The Texas capital has long been a hotbed for live music as well as offbeat types, but the trendsetting locals also scored big points for being tech-fluent."

The Number 3 Hipster town is San Francisco. Number 2 is a few miles north of San Francisco, the town of Portland. And #1 is.........

1. Seattle: "These northwesterners prove that a key to hipsterness is being ahead of the curve: they won the survey for their smarts, their tech savvy, and their high-octane coffee. As a result, the geek chic may be a little more buttoned-down here than in other cities."

I have tried to import smarts, tech savvy and high-octane coffee to Fort Worth, but there is only so much one person can do to amp up a town's hipness.

It is 30 degrees above freezing right now. I think I will go swimming before it gets any hotter.

I almost stepped on my first slithery serpent encounter of the year this afternoon.

I was peacefully minding my own business, walking on the Tandy Highway, having a pleasant conversation with myself, when suddenly I realized I was about to step on one of the descendants of Eve's Garden of Eden tempters.

By the time I got my camera turned on the snake was in high speed slither mode, but I was able to get one picture before the reptilian monster disappeared into the brush.

Snakes can slither surprisingly fast when motivated and the temperature is warm enough for their cold blood to flow. Today it was around 80 degrees when I almost stepped on a snake. I guess that is a warm enough temperature to allow fast acceleration.

I am not a snake fan. I find them very unnatural and have always wondered what in the world Mother Nature was thinking when She created them.

Western Washington, where I lived the majority of my time on earth, has no poisonous snakes, naturally occurring. But, there are plenty of garter snakes. Garter snakes can get quite big. Eastern Washington has rattlesnakes, but the Cascade Mountain Range has always kept them on the east side of the mountains.

When I first moved to Texas the fear of snake encounters was probably my #1 concern. Fear of redneck encounters was probably my #2 concern. Both these fears proved to be unwarranted.

I've only had myself a few poisonous snake encounters, one big rattlesnake, a couple copperheads, a couple cottonmouths. That's all.

As for redneck encounters. Gar the Texan has been the worst of that type thing I've encountered. And even that really was not as bad as I feared and easily made harmless by giving him beer.

Basically I was opining about the Bass Family, and Ed Bass, in particular, and how I saw the Bass impact on downtown Fort Worth.

Today, whilst biking the Trinity Trail this subject was brought back to the forefront of my consciousness when I was fairly close to a pair of skyscrapers I'd opined about.

Last week's blogging generated some commentary from three different commentors whose opinions I highly value, CatsPaw, MLK and GG.

I'd suggested that the architect who designed those aforementioned skyscrapers must have been a C Student and were reflective of Bass Bad Taste.

CatsPaw then had this to say.....

My goodness, you're cranky today. Your "C-student" was quite highly-regarded and a former dean of the Yale School of Architecture. I first came to Fort Worth in 1977. City Center went up between 1978 - 1983. In the late 70s and early 80s, downtown had gotten rather dismal. I used to work in the old Continental National Bank building (now gone) and often had lunch at the Richelieu Cafe (gone) or at the restaurant in the Blackstone Hotel (now the Marriott) where the waitresses were about 80 if they were a day. We hung out after work hours at the old Daddio's where the Flying Saucer is presently. That area was pretty rough and if there had been sagebrush and tumble weeds, they would have been blowing along Main Street after 5 pm. Regardless of one's view of the Bass family or some of the buildings or development, there's really no question that they have been uniquely instrumental in the revival of downtown.

I first saw Fort Worth in August of 1980. I do remember the downtown being very dismal. And skyscraper-free. At least I do not remember there being any sort of skyline back then.

And then MLK disagreed with me....

Durango, I rarely disagree with your observations, but I'll have to object to your obvious dislike of the Bass family. I lived in Fort Worth when it was not a place to be, nothing to do, no one living down there. Ed Bass built Caravan of Dreams, an excellent music venue which closed a few years ago (still crying about this). He realized he wanted a place to live downtown, so he built Sundance West...so the urban pioneers came and made downtown FTW a great place to live/work/play. I think Fort Worth owes quite a bit to our benefactors. Whereas they do own most of downtown or fund most of the progress there, they do have excellent taste and have Fort Worth's best interest at heart.

Now, we must keep in mind that I saw something like Caravan of Dreams from a totally different perspective than someone who lived in Fort Worth during the dismal years. I read the hype about Caravan of Dreams soon upon arrival. When I finally made it to the Sundance Square parking lots to check it out I just sort of thought it was strange and tacky. The geodesic cactus garden dome seemed real odd to me. Still does.

Only recently, thanks to Wikipedia, did I learn that that geodesic dome, along with the now defunct Caravan of Dreams, is yet one more thing Fort Worth has Ed Bass to thank, or blame for. I did not connect Ed Bass to the Arizona Biosphere II Geodesic domes debacle til I read the Wikipedia article.

GG, while appreciating all the Bass family has done to Fort Worth, had some issues regarding the billionaires...

I agree that the billionaire Bass family has done a lot for revitalizing downtown Fort Worth. The problem I have with Sundance Square is all the government tax handouts they have gotten in the form of TIFs and sales tax rebates over the years. And they are still going to the trough for another $11 million in TIF money and $2.5 million in city sales tax rebates for the new buildings that will be near the new public, I mean, private plaza. I'm amazed at how the public simply ignores government handouts to billionaires, but gets outraged if some poor person gets a housing voucher or welfare benefit. If the Bass family really has Fort Worth's best interest at heart, they wouldn't be asking for all this public tax money for their private projects. It's not like $2.5 million over 15 years means a whole lot to a billionaire. But it could certainly help pay for fixing/maintaining public pools, improving rather than cutting library funding, and giving city workers some of the salary back that they lost in furloughs, to name a few examples. As a FW outsider, I don't think this 'tax taking' is acceptable behavior for billionaires who own most of downtown.

Regarding my opinion about the Bass family contribution to the development of downtown Fort Worth. My problem with this is I see it as a not a good thing if one family has this level of influence over how a town develops. MLK thinks the Bass's have excellent taste. While I don't.

Taste is a subjective thing.

While the Bass Performance Hall may be an acoustic marvel, aesthetically, to my eyes, it is an out of place eyesore with ridiculous giant angels stuck to its side blowing horns at the Barnes & Noble across the street.

When Ed Bass complained about the sunken plaza design of the downtown Tarrant County College campus, that complaint set in motion, it seemed to me, the torpedoing of that project, one that I opined might actually give Fort Worth its first iconic building that people in other parts of the planet might recognize as being Fort Worth.

Unlike that pair of Bass skyscrapers designed by a Yale School of Architecture dean.

I also do not like the Bass tendency to slap their name on the buildings they help bring about. Like the Bass Performance Hall, or the Bass name slapped on to the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame & Museum building.

Additionally, I have a problem with the idea that Fort Worth needed these particular benefactors to fix its apparently dismal downtown. Would not a more democratic process be preferable? If you removed the Bass influence from Fort Worth, do you really think downtown Fort Worth would still be a dismal mess in 2012?

And for all the supposed improvement brought to downtown Fort Worth, courtesy of Bass intervention, the town is still the biggest in America without a single downtown department store. Still totally dead on the biggest shopping day of the year, the day after Thanksgiving.

Without a benefactor playing Big Daddy to Fort Worth's collective Big Babies, might Fort Worth not have managed to figure out how to put on its Big Boy Pants all on its own?

Instead, in Fort Worth you have this weird mentality where a Good Ol' Boy Network runs the town like some sort of private fiefdom, for the benefit of all the little people.

It is this weird mentality, in my opinion, that gives rise, in this town, to strange aberrations from the way a normal town operates, giving rise to abominations like the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle. A plan hatched by the Good Ol' Boy Network, in cahoots with the local corrupt congresswoman, who got her ne-er do well, unqualified son, the job of running the almost billion dollar project.

I drove Fort Worth's booming West 7th Avenue yesterday. Did all that growth come about from Bass help? Or private enterprise?

Fort Worth's downtown has the largest percentage of land used as parking lots of any big city in America.

Who owns most of the parking lots? The Bass Family.

Land is too valuable to use as parking lots in a vibrant downtown. I wonder what could possibly be done to bring some of that booming West 7th level of dynamic change to downtown Fort Worth?

I would not be so bold (or rude) as to suggest evicting the Bass Family from downtown Fort Worth might be a good place to start.

The Cowtown Wakepark Jewel
In The Trinity River Vision Boondoggle Crown

Today I pedaled the Trinity Trail to get a closeup look at Cowtown Wakepark.

Yesterday I visited the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle's Woodshed Smokehouse.

Visionary J.D. Granger envisioned the Woodshed Smokehouse as a gritty place with no air-conditioning, with outdoor showers and an outhouse.

Well before the Woodshed opened, the visionary J.D. Granger foresaw the need for the more than 700,000 citizens of Fort Worth to have the opportunity to participate in the water sport of wakeboarding in dirty, polluted water.

This coming summer the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle will see the opening of the first new drive-in movie theater in America in decades.

Truly visionary.

I was very impressed to see the Cowtown Wakepark up close today, to see the fine attention paid to detail.

Fort Worth Shabby Chic From The
Trinity River Vision Boondoggle

The designers of this world class venue obviously paid close attention to the Fort Worth design aesthetic, that truly unique shabby chic look that Fort Worth does so well, and no other big city seems able to emulate to the Fort Worth level.

Cowtown Wakepark's landscaping appeared to be designed to look totally natural, like most of Fort Worth's freeway exits. Tall grass and weeds. A smattering of litter, for color. A general unkemptness to the look.

It can't be easy to design and achieve this type look, creating the illusion of chaotic slobbiness.

The next time I bike the Trinity Trail, out of Gateway Park, I'll make it beyond Cowtown Wakepark to see if I can find the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle Drive-In under construction. It'd be cool to see the tall grass and weeds, of the landscaping, when they are in the installation phase, before the litter arrives.

Has anyone heard what the financial arrangement is between the Cowtown Wakepark and the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle? How big a slice is J.D. Granger's operation getting off of this likely very lucrative pie? How much did it cost the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle to add this lake to the vision?

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Today I walked the Trinity Trail and met Madame X for lunch with Tim Love at the Woodshed Smokehouse.

The walk along the Trinity River was interesting.

But, first lunch was had at the Woodshed.

Skinny Madame X had the Skinny Chicken sandwich, while I had the Woodshed Burger.

I recently had a Double Double Burger at In-N-Out. I prefer the Double Double to the Woodshed Burger, though the Smoked Cheddar is a nice touch.

There were not as many people at the Woodshed for lunch today as there were the first time I was at the Woodshed, that being the Occupy Woodshed protest where we had libations and chips. Some overhead fans have been added to add some air circulation to the un air-conditioned Woodshed.

Woodshed Designer Outhouse & Shower

The entrepreneur behind the brilliant Woodshed concept, J.D. Granger, insisted there be no air-conditioning because he felt cool air would detract from the gritty atmosphere he was hoping to create.

I'm guessing the cool outhouse that is part of the Woodshed complex, along with the outdoor shower, is also part of the gritty atmosphere design of J.D. Granger.

I did not know what the parking situation was at the Woodshed and I knew it was easy to park at Trinity Park, with Trinity Park being a fairly short distance to the Woodshed.

Do Not Go Over Your Limit Of 5 Rainbow Trout

Why is most of Trinity Park's parking blocked? And the Trinity Trail blocked, heading east? This made parking a bit more difficult than I had anticipated.

The URBAN FISHING AREA sign you see in the picture has perplexed me previously. In most areas you are advised not to eat any fish you catch in the Trinity River.

However, this sign informs you that a Texas Fishing License and Trout Stamp are required to catch your limit of 5 Rainbow Trout per day.

A person standing near me as I read the sign muttered, "There ain't no trout in that damn river."

The Fort Worth Forbidden Zone

I don't know about that, but I sure saw a lot of turtles and what looked to be a big snake, plus multiple instances of big fish jumping out of the water making big splashes.

Just a short distance upriver from the URBAN FISHING AREA, maybe 500 feet, there is a very dire warning sign that made me wonder how it was that Rainbow Fish were available for catching a few feet downriver.

That really does sound dire. This is the only place on the planet where I recollect having found myself in a FORBIDDEN ZONE. Does this mean raw water is being sucked out of the dirty river at this location? Or is raw water flowing in to the river at this location? I prefer my FORBIDDEN ZONES to be very clear about the reason for the forbidding.

Fort Worth Bikers Crossing Trinity River

There are several dam bridges crossing across the Trinity River, some of which are part of the Trinity Trail. I don't quite understand the thinking behind the dam bridge crossing you see in the picture.

The 3 guys had to carry their mountain bikes across the dam bridge because the path across is a line of big rocks, with the river waterfalling between the rocks.

A short distance downriver there has been at least one instance of someone falling into the river at a similar crossing and drowning.

It seems sort of irresponsible, to me, to have a paved trail lead to a dam bridge that is topped with a line of big rocks that you have to traverse carrying your bike overhead.